Tell me about your cellphone plan

I am considering getting a phone and I guess the best way to learn about what options are out there is to hear what people have and what they like and dislike. So spill it.

or what choices do you have?

600 anytime minutes, free nights and weekends, free long distance, no roaming. 40 a month, 1 year plan

and i got a 200$ samsung camera phone for free

the only downfall about Tmobile is they don't have the coverage area like cingular and verizon. Since i live in ohio, their coverage is pretty much statewide, except for some rural areas. i've complained several times about increasing their coverage areas.. other than that, their service is great and cheap.

(i live in central ohio) i've noticed that tmobile piggybacks on cingular at times...i recently drove to minnesota, and i had great service except for a ten minute stretch in wisconson.

but yeah, coverage area is something that should definately be checked out

So I went with T-Mobile pre-paid. After you refill your original purchase with $100 in minutes, the price can go down to just over seven cents a minute.

I'm satisfied with the deal and I don't feel trapped.

B-)

I paid about $42 a month Canadian

150 minutes -- nationwide coverage, so all calls wherever I am, whoever I call, it's a local call. I barely use my minutes, so this plan works for me. It's Verizon, and it's $35.00 a month.

Don't cut your landline for cellphone use only before you consider the following: when conventional electric (AC) power goes out, so can (and frequently does) cellphone systems (your landline phone runs on DC power). You should never discuss confidential financial, medical or personal business on a cell or cordless phone. So a landline phone is still a good idea.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

I like it- I sink about $20 bucks into it every two months (it's prepaid) and you can get cards for it almost anywhere.
-Oh, and no roaming or any of that BS.

Keep in car - still land line elsewhere. They give you so many extra minutes for renewing on the web and they roll over, so am using extra minutes toward the end of the year since I already paid for them. Use it for emergencies and to check my home phone for messages to see if I NEED to make a call.

Signed up with ECG on land line so long distance is 3¢/minute.

Works for me given my usage habits andI like the security of it at a cost of $100/year and no monthly bills. Per call is costly - but I don't mind.

verizon family plan. two phones, two lines =$50.00 350 minutes.

We went through several companies before settling in with US Cellular -- used them for over 5 years now.

I signed a new contract last fall (because I wanted a new phone & could get one free w/ contract): $35 per month; 1500 minutes per month; voicemail; text messaging; all incoming calls free.

Could you tell me what companies offer that?

The SO and I don't use it much, so we both have pre-pays that cost us a minimum of about $10/month to keep them active. Verizon had a ton of giveaways in time cards and rebates, so the phones were actually free once it was all done.

I don't use mine very much, so it's really good for me. It's pay-as-you-go, and the minimum amount you have to pay is $20 every three months. You have to pay for the phone, too, but it's worth it, IMO. By far the cheapest I've seen, for someone like me who rarely uses a cell.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/new2vm/how.do

I sell cell phone serivce for five different carriers, and for someone who's never had one, there are some questions I usually ask -

will it be just for emergencies? will it replace/become your "home phone?"

I don't recommend pre-paid plans unless it is really an emergency phone. Airtime on a pre-paid service can be unbelievably high compared to what you can get for the same amt of $ when you sign an agreement.

but, the last thing you want to do is sign up for a plan on the low end of the scale, and then blow thru tons of minutes, or travel on a plan that has a small footprint - I've seen so many people sign up with the intention of having a small payment each month, only to be killled w/ overage and roaming charges. Make sure you know what you're signing up for, tho you can usually change plans if you need to.

local plans that include long distance are usually better for people that don't travel much, and a lot of regional carriers offer unlimited calls for a certain monthly fee.

Cricket?

:)

(I got it over a year ago- two year contract.)

then it merged with Cingular. I pay $35 a month, get 200 minutes Nationwide, talk to other Cingular customers without charge, and get free weekends and nights after 9:00pm. It serves my needs anyway.

and then they charge me whatever the hell they want.

Pretty good if you want to waste money.

3 phones, 1000 shared minutes, unlimited nights and weekend minutes (starting at 7 pm). No long distance charges, no roaming charges. We pay around 85 for all 3 phones with Cingular (used to be with AT&T). Our plan includes the ability to send to and download from the internet but we don't use that. We also have caller id and voice mail. We don't usually use all the minutes, but hubby uses his phone for business so it makes sense to have them since going over is much more expensive. We pay almost that much for our home phone. I save at least $20 a month in LD charges since my family is all far away.

Switched from AT&T before the merger. 500 anytime minutes. Nationwide. No roaming. Unlimited in network (Sprint to Sprint) calling. Nights and weekends start at 7 pm. Cost is about $70 per month. Their fair and flexible plans were not available when I made the switch. Also, my choices were pretty limited because I needed to get a provider that also served family who live in a rural area in another state. I have had a few coverage issues but they were all in very remote areas.

Not much help to you, I know, but that's my plan.

I have the cheapest plan; 300 anytime, unlimited night/weekend.

I have a camera phone, but I hardly ever use the camera. It was one of those, buy online and get $100 off.

I get good signals from Sprint. They've never messed up on my bill. And overall, I'm happy with them; I've had Sprint for around 6 years now.

They are evil. Of course, I once detested walkmans and thought the internet was a load of hype too, but I cannot forsee changing my mind about cellphones.